Friday, July 29, 2011

Tracking The Pastrana Injury Saga

Thursday night at the X Games, Travis Pastrana fell while attempting a trick called a "720 rodeo" on a motorcycle. The worst part was as he fell, the bike fell on his right leg hard.

Pastrana got up, took one small step and then went immediately to his knees. It was his right lower leg that was injured. Originally, the on-site ESPN doctor suspected a fracture of both the tibia and fibula bones.

At 11:30PM Eastern, both ESPN and several other news sources were quoted as saying Pastrana has a right foot and ankle fracture. The ESPN Motorsports Twitter account said he would likely not race this weekend and he is definitely done for the remainder of the X Games.

As Friday unfolds, we will use this post to continue to track the Pastrana injury and the effect it has on the ESPN plans for a sophisticated effort at making Pastrana a centerpiece of the Nationwide Series coverage on Saturday.

Veteran reporter Jim Utter of the Charlotte Observer indicated that he did not see the Pastrana-Waltrip Racing entry being driven by someone other than Travis due to sponsorship issues. He suggested it would be withdrawn.

Reporte Dustin Long from Landmark Newspapers says he asked co-owner Michael Waltrip what would happen if Pastrana was injured and Waltrip said he was packing his driving suit as a back-up. Now that could be interesting. We will certainly see as the weekend unfolds.

If you have information on this topic, just click the comments button below to add it. We are keeping our frame of reference on this topic limited to the media and TV aspects of this injury and how it is going to affect the race coverage. Thanks!

23 comments:

Ian Schrader
said...

Wondering how Mike with his Coca-Cola ties would work with a car That likely has Red-Bull ties? Other than that, Why shouldn't Mike drive the car? He is a part owner and stands to gain from the exposure.

well that will certain put a crimp in ESPN's marketing spots (I saw one the other day 'tracking' his weekend as he flies from place to place.) Sorry to hear that for Travis; I was looking forward to it. It's a shame that they can't see their way to put someone else in the car. Does the crew get paid anyways, I wonder?

I had a Tib Fib fracture otherwise known as a broken ankle so I'm betting he has some plates and screws in there to add to his collection. Ingnoring the pain part which is significant he probably is also not allowed to put weight on it for multiple weeks. It's interesting that after all that hype what we have now is a huge vacumn sucking the air right out of ESPNs plans. 2 Thoughts Hey Miky put Ryan Truex in the car and hopefully since they had a little notice ESPN can find a different "story" for the weekend but I willl take the OVER on how many time they talk about him not being there and show the jump. Kind of puts that Kasey Kane extra curricular activity spin in an entirely new light.

RWar24...in all fairness, the guy's only been at it less than a year. I don't think that it's time to 'choose', although his own age & common sense may choose it for him. I don't think it's a publicity stunt, he was already driving rally cars so it wouldn't seem a big leap (no pun intended). But most extreme sports people realize eventually, the body only holds out for so long--particularly guys on bikes. Like Ricky Carmichael.

OMG !!!!!!!!! What s ESPN going to do?????? They've had their script written for this race for probably more than a month, and now it's bupkis???? Let the hand wringing begin. They don't have a script to follow, so maybe they'll just have to show the race without silly embellishments. Oh, sorry, I forgot. They need a script,so they'll probably just insert Kyle Busch's name where it once was Travis.

Is anyone else besides me a little uncomfortable to learn today that ESPN was paying Patrana's travel costs and "coordinated" this whole thing with "Pastrana-Waltrip Racing"? This is according to an article by Bob Pockrass.

This gent is proof of NASCAR's desperation for something to kick up their ratings. Maybe they should just give in and make NASCAR part of the X-Games, and those of us who love racing for the dedicated, brilliant men who drive can just shut off the live TV and watch films of the old races.

Maybe I'm expecting too much. Cale, Pearson, Dale Sr and Jr, Bennie Parsons, Donnie Allison, Neil Bonnet, JJ, Jeff Gordon, and the rest ... they just aren't going to make them like that anymore. They are what got me to watch NASCAR as a young girl, not some fool jumping over cars, or driving through hoops of flame.

Yawl know I can not stand theannouncers doing the Truck Series. But tonite ( friday ) they hit anew low. They didnt stop talking for morethan 3 seconds....not once. And ofcourse they mention the names ofthe drivers over and over andoveragai Simply theeeeeee most sickening show of recent times. Who knows ..maybe the geniuses over at nascarthink it is good. The folks in the booth should apologize and resign quietly.